Agra and Fatehpur Sikri: A Traveller’s History

In the hope of lessening the difficulties of sight-seeing at Agra the author has drawn up an itinerary of the principal objects of interest in the city, and immediate neighbourhood. The story and description of each place is briefly told in this book. He has also included a short account of Fatehpuri Sikri, the deserted city of Akbar. How it came to be founded is a romance without parallel in history. Its decline affords yet another striking example of the triumph of the practical over the claims of sentiment. To archaeologists, the abandoned capital offers one of the most absorbing fields of research in India. Its forsaken palaces, echoing courts and mighty gateways represent the perfection of Moghul architecture under Akbar. This famous style sprang into existence with the Great Moghul, reached its zenith during the reign of his grandson, Shah Jahan, and perished with Auranzib, the last of the four really powerful Emperors to sway the scepter of the Moghuls.